Have
you made the jump from static stretching
to dynamic stretching?by: Bill
Utsey , Director of Athletics,
Greenville County Schools, Greenville
SC

I remember distinctly
the warm-up routines I went through
as a young high school athlete. Nothing
but lots of ballistic exercises from
jumping jacks to mountain climbs to
squat thrusts. All, I might add, to
the four-count military cadence. When
I hit college, in came the static stretching
standard that has been the basis for
all warm-up routines for many years
now.

Now, we have a new, scientifically
researched standard that is being promoted
as the more effective way to really
warm-up and, at the same time, improve
power, balance, and flexibility. Welcome
to “Dynamic Stretching!”
In fact, I just left one of our high
school’s summer conditioning sessions
where the first activity written on
the schedule was “Dynamics.”

We are most fortunate in Greenville,
South Carolina, to have as a partner
to our sports programs the Steadman
Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas.
Their team includes the Acceleration
Sports Institute (ASI) and Proaxis
Therapy. These two companies, like
Steadman Hawkins, are national leaders
in their respective fields. The last
two workshops we had for our coaches
included sessions on dynamic stretching
presented by the ASI and Proaxis staffs.
These were powerful presentations, with
actual demonstrations and video clips
of dynamic stretching routines. Suffice
it to say that all of our teams have
embraced these as the basis for their
warm-up routines. To watch our teams
come out before a game, and start to
do exercises that more closely resemble
ballet dancers warming up than athletes
getting ready for competition, is quite
a site.

Dynamic stretching replaces the old
static stretching routine of holding
each position for ten to thirty seconds
for warming up before practices and
competitions. Its name, “dynamic,”
defines each exercise as requiring some
kind of movement. These exercises come
with names like “straight-leg
march,” “scorpion,”
“spider-man
walks,” “hand-walks,”
“Grouchos” and “butt
kicks.” The research on dynamic
stretching counters the static method
with results showing an increase in
overall athletic performance. Many findings
indicate that static stretching actually
decreases muscle strength (at least
temporarily) whereas dynamic stretching
increases strength, power, balance and
range of motion. Since dynamic exercises
require movement, they literally warm
the muscles by increasing blood flow
significantly.

Our Proaxis partners were big on dynamic
stretching, touting its ability
to be sport specific, its value in demanding
balance and full range of motion movements,
and its impact on the core areas of
the body in a number of the exercises.
One thing is certain, dynamic stretches
loosen muscles and tendons and increase
the temperature of these tissues significantly
before one’s competition. This
cannot be said for static
stretching. Additionally, many of
the dynamic exercises involve several
muscle groups at one time (Try the spider-man
walk! See video link below to view
this exercise.).

Everyone now seems to be doing dynamics
as warm-up routines from professional
tennis players and golfers to professional
football and baseball teams. If I were
coaching today, dynamics would be my
warm-up standard for my teams. If you
are not using these exercises, I encourage
you to just watch some of the video
demos at the on-line links below. You
will see how these exercises will add
value to your program and, best of all,
are good for kids. However, before you
jump into this uniquely different form
of exercises, there are some principles
and axioms that are recommended. These
are:

Dynamic stretches are best for
warm-up, static stretches better for
cool down.

A short aerobic warm-up before
you begin your dynamics seems best
(jogging, rope jumping, etc.)

Select exercises that are sport
specific. You will notice in your
personal research that many of the
exercises relate very well to your
specific sport’s motor skills.
Others can be varied and adapted to
make them more sport specific.

“Simple to complex”
and “Easy to difficult.”
Because some of the dynamic exercises
require skill, balance, strength,
and great ranges of motion, it is
recommended that you begin with simple
and easy exercises early in the season
(or cycle) and move to the more complex
and difficult as the athlete progresses
in mastering the dynamic exercises.

Variety in your practices and workouts
is good (aerobic exercise and a combination
of dynamic, ballistic, and static
stretching).

Do your own research and find out for
yourself the value of dynamic stretching.
Some of my Google searches in preparing
this article included the following
(note that some are links to video demos):